NorsePlay Reviews: Vei gladiates the Aesir & Jotnar.

 


A girl's body's discovered floating in the open sea by a Viking prince's ship. Barely alive, they spare some of their dwindling water for her, and when she comes to, her eyes open ... to reveal goat-like horizontal pupils!

This is the hook for Vei, a two-volume graphic novel, originally a Swedish 12-issue limited series from 2012 CE, and it is a stunningly executed NorsePlay.

Writer Sara Bergmark Elfgren & artist Karl Johnsson gift us a re-scripting of Norse Mythology that answers the very real question of why don't the Jotnar or the Aesir just make a pre-emptive attack now to get an early victory and not have to suffer the pyrrhic resolution of end-time Ragnarök? The answer is a détente struck by a longstanding "peace" agreement mediated by a periodic gladiatorial combat. The winning side then for that time gets the domain of contested Midgard, which makes our world & its mortal reverence the key to divine power!

This gives us a sweeping story revealing that the giants & Gods are far more -- and less -- of what they are believed & seem to be. This last particular NorsePlay aspect very much matches the otherworldly interludes of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (2020 CE) & sequel AC: Dawn of Ragnarök, the rescripting of Æsir as adversaries in God of War (2018 CE) & GoW: Ragnarök, is far more satisfying than 2016's Heathen (though those characters were admittedly warmer), and way grittier than the overly bombastic anime Record of Ragnarok (2021 CE), but do note Vei came out before all those properties.

In terms of the Norse Lore, the idea of a formal public combat to settle disputes might have its mythic origins in Skáldskaparmál's duel between Thor and Hrungnir to settle the matter of the drunk giant's bad guest super-offensive boasting.

This mirrors the legal duel, or Holmgang, we see in the Icelandic Sagas. While these were sometimes used to resolve land ownership (or abusively called to just take land), we do see champions offering or being tagged in to fight on behalf of others who are outmatched or unable to physically defend themselves.

These instances reflex into Vei's idea of cosmic-level gladiatorial matches over Midgard as a deterrent for all-out war. That's a pretty awesome NorsePlay'd conceit that Elfgren & Johnsson work their story around, and I highly recommend reading Vei for the interfactional drama, visual brutality, and original storytelling it offers.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.

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